2021 Mediterranean FurryCane Season
The 2021 Mediterranean FurryCane season was an above-average season which featured 10 depressions, 8 named storms, 6 hurricanes and 5 intense hurricanes. The season was quite deadly with over 3000 deaths. With 5 intense hurricanes, 2021 features the most intense hurricanes in one season since records began in 2019. One notable storm was Booker, which became the longest lived storm in recorded world history, churning in the Mediterranean for a record 36 days before dissipating over the Swiss Alps. The season was also notable for featuring hurricanes Zabu and Caffeine, both causing severe destructuion on both sides of the Mediterranean. Season Summary ImageSize = width:700 height:210 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:20 left:20 Legend = columns:3 left:30 top:58 columnwidth:210 AlignBars = early DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/08/2019 till:15/12/2019 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMinor = grid:black unit:month increment:1 start:01/08/2019 Colors = id:canvas value:gray(0.88) id:GP value:red id:TD value:rgb(0.38,0.73,1) legend:Tropical_Depression_=_≤39_mph_(≤62_km/h) id:TS value:rgb(0,0.98,0.96) legend:Tropical_Storm_=_39–73_mph_(63–117_km/h) id:C1 value:rgb(1,1,0.80) legend:Category_1_=_74–95_mph_(118–153_km/h) id:C2 value:rgb(1,0.91,0.46) legend:Category_2_=_96–110_mph_(154–177_km/h) id:C3 value:rgb(1,0.76,0.25) legend:Category_3_=_111–129_mph_(178–208_km/h) id:C4 value:rgb(1,0.56,0.13) legend:Category_4_=_130–156_mph_(209–251_km/h) id:C5 value:rgb(1,0.38,0.38) legend:Category_5_=_≥157_mph_(≥252_km/h) Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:Hurricane bar:Month PlotData= barset:Hurricane width:10 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till from:02/08/2019 till:09/08/2019 color:C3 text:"Rika (C3)" from:15/08/2019 till:18/08/2019 color:TD text:"Two (TD)" from:24/08/2019 till:27/08/2019 color:TD text:"Three (TD)" from:03/09/2019 till:07/09/2019 color:TS text:"Strobes (TS)" from:05/09/2019 till:11/09/2019 color:C1 text:"Telephone (C1)" from:13/09/2019 till:22/09/2019 color:C4 text:"Zabu (C4)" from:20/09/2019 till:23/09/2019 color:TS text:"Ash (TS)" from:03/10/2019 till:08/11/2019 color:C4 text:"Booker (C4)" barset:break from:10/10/2019 till:17/10/2019 color:C4 text:"Caffeine (C4)" from:13/10/2019 till:21/10/2019 color:C3 text:"Foofi (C3)" from:19/11/2019 till:24/11/2019 color:TS text:"Glitch (TS)" barset:Hurricane width:20 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till bar:Month width:5 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:middle color:canvas from:01/08/2019 till:31/08/2019 text:August from:01/09/2019 till:30/09/2019 text:September from:01/10/2019 till:31/10/2019 text:October from:01/11/2019 till:30/11/2019 text:November TextData = pos:(400,30) text:"(From the" pos:(530,30) text:"Saffir–Simpson scale)" The season started on August 2 when Hurricane Rika formed. Rika caused minor damage in Northern & Central Greece. In the remainder of August, two depressions formed: Two and Three, with neither causing major damage. In early September, Tropical Storm Strobes became the first storm to exit the basin while still tropical when it exited the west Mediterranean and was renamed Tropical Storm Henri (from the NHC list). Just days later, Hurricane Telephone hit Marseille as a C1, causing some damage, but not as much as expected. The next storm in September, Zabu, became the first storm to hit the Middle East as an intense hurricane since records began, hitting Beirut as a C4. Zabu also caused major damage in Cyprus as a C3. The final storm in September, Tropical Storm Ash, caused minor damage in Murcia, Spain as a weak TS. October featured 3 intense hurricanes in a row, Booker, Caffeine and Foofi. Booker was the strongest storm of the season as well as the longest-lived tropical cyclone on record anywhere in the world, lasting for a record 36 days and causing major damage in North Africa, Spain & France. Caffeine peaked as a C4 while causing severe damage in Corsica & Northern Italy. Foofi set the record for least amount of time spent as an intense hurricane, spending just 1 hour as an intense hurricane before causing moderate damage in Sardinia as a tropical storm. November featued the final storm of the season, Glitch which caused minor damage in Southern Turkey as a weak Tropical Storm. Storms Hurricane Rika Tropical Depression Two Tropical Depression Three Tropical Storm Strobes Hurricane Telephone Hurricane Zabu Tropical Storm Ash Hurricane Booker Hurricane Caffeine Hurricane Foofi Tropical Storm Glitch Storm names The following list of names was used for named storms that formed in the Mediterranean in 2020. The names not retired from these lists will be used again. All names used were used for the first time. List 1 List 2 Retirement At the 3rd session of the RA VII hurricane committee, the World Meteorological Organization retired the names Zabu, Booker and Caffeine from its naming lists due to the number of deaths and amount of damage they caused, and they will not be used again for another Mediterranean hurricane. They will be replaced with the names Zapper, Blü and Duke, respectively. Season effects This is a table of all the storms that formed in the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season. It includes their duration, names, affected areas, damages, and death totals. Deaths in parentheses are additional and indirect (an example of an indirect death would be a traffic accident), but were still related to that storm. Damage and deaths include totals while the storm was extratropical, a tropical wave, or a low, and all the damage figures are in 2019 USD. Potential tropical cyclones are not included in this table.